ORLANDO, Fla. - The eighth-seeded Richmond Spiders clinched a 4-2 victory against No. 4 Fordham on Friday to earn a spot in the Atlantic 10 Women's Tennis Championship final, where they will face No. 3 Massachusetts Saturday evening at 5:30 pm.

The Spiders got out to a hot start in doubles play, as Claire Le Du and Andrea Campodonico rolled to a 6-0 victory in the top flight. The Rams answered back on court three behind the pair of Franny Shea and Julianne Nguyen, 6-1. Fordham claimed the match's opening point on court two as  Xiaowei 'Rose' Hu and Eleni Fasoula clinched the 6-3 win.

The Spiders took first-set wins in five of the six courts but Fordham answered back to split sets on courts two, three, four and six. Richmond's Leonor Oliveira survived a second-set stumble and netted a 6-2 win in the third set to even the match score at 1-1. Campodonico then put UR ahead in the match on court one, defeating Raffaela Alhach 7-6(4), 6-3. 

On court four, Fasoula and Lara Bakhaya traded sets with Fasoula coming out on top, 6-4 in the deciding frame, tying the match once again. After dropping her first set, Elizabeth Novak rattled off a pair of 6-4 sets to put the Spiders one court away from the win. 

Richmond senior Polina Shitikova played hero once again as she battled back from a second-set loss to power through the tiebreak in the third to clinch on ourt six and send the Spiders into the A-10 Championship final for the first time since 2021.

MATCH #10
#8 RICHMOND def. #4 FORDHAM, 4-2

SINGLES
1. Andrea Campodonico (UR) def. Raffaela Alhach (FOR) 7-6(4), 6-3
2. Xiaowei 'Rose' Hu (FOR) vs. Carly Cohen (UR) 5-7, 6-3, 5-4, DNF 
3. Leonor Oliveira (UR) def. Anlin Xie (FOR) 6-2, 1-6, 6-2
4. Eleni Fasoula (FOR) def. Lara Bakhaya (UR) 2-6, 6-4, 6-4
5. Elizabeth Novak (UR) def. Xintong 'Cindy' Zhou (FOR) 0-6, 6-4, 6-4
6. Polina Shitikova (UR) def. Frances Shea (FOR) 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(3)
Order of Finish: 3, 1, 4, 5, 6

DOUBLES
1. Claire Le Du/Andrea Campodonico (UR) def. Raffaela Alhach/Anlin Xie (FOR) 6-0
2. Xiaowei 'Rose' Hu/Eleni Fasoula (FOR) def. Polina Shitikova/Lara Bakhaya (UR) 6-3
3. Frances Shea/Julianne Nguyen (FOR) def. Lainey OíNeil/Elizabeth Novak (UR) 6-1
Order of Finish: 1, 3, 2